


Santa Claus Is Going To High School

by okemmelie



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid
Genre: Gen, but they got it, nobody asked for a daily christmas calendar concerning the santa claus is going to high school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 16,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21633427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie
Summary: In Santa's Workshop, all the machines are producing coal, coal and nothing but coal. Santa must figure out what's wrong and get everything back on tracks before Christmas comes. In order to connect with the youth and fully understand why what happening on the Northpole is happening, he transforms into a teenager and goes to high school.
Comments: 201
Kudos: 69





	1. December 1

**Author's Note:**

> to nanna –  
> may your christmas be merry  
> and the quality of my dumb dedications improve
> 
> the moment i heard about "santa claus is going to high school", i just knew i had to write this. the first couple of chapters are kind of short but sometimes... that's life. happy december !!!  
> also, u can catch me @ krayonders on tumblr dot com
> 
> IF YOU'RE READING THIS AFTER 2019 i'm so sorry. you're stuck with 2019 emmelie's author's notes and spellings that were later debunked by the youtube captions

“Oh, jeepers!”

Jingle looked out from the balcony overseeing the Workshop. This was not good. This was not good at all. It was December first, one of the most important days of the year here on the Northpole.

It was the day their present production started up and that was how it had been every year since Father Winter, the very first Santa Claus, first came here. It was also the day Santa would wake up from his slumber and Jingle knew in her heart that he would not be happy once he saw what she saw: All of their machines were producing coal. Coal, coal and only coal. Jinkies!

But there was still time. They could still save it, she knew it. They always fixed things. That was what being a higher elf in Santa’s Workshop was all about. Fixing things. She turned to face Jangle. “Jangle! The elves and all of the machines… they’re producing coal.”

“Thaaat’s right!” Jangle chimed in. It didn’t help much. It never did.

So Jingle just sighed and started making her way down the stairs. Jangle followed. She appreciated it, despite his unhelpfulness. They walked through the rows of machinery and the masses of elves packaging and storing the gift-wrapped lumps of coal. Santa was so going to freak out! Jingle was so going to freak out! Heck, she already was freaking out.

Among the masses, she spotted something helpful. Or rather someone helpful. Sprinkle was the smartest, most helpful, most  _ competent _ elf she knew. They’d know what to do.

“Sprinkle!” Jingle yelled.

Most elves kept busy, but Sprinkle looked up. After they saw it was Jingle who had called, they made their way through the crowd and stopped in front of her. “Yes?”

“All the machines are producing coal. Why are all the machines producing coal?” Jingle really hoped Sprinkle had the answers, because Jingle sure didn’t.

Before the smartest, most helpful, most competent elf in the world had the chance to answer, two doors upstairs burst open and out onto the balcony stepped the man himself: Santa Claus.

All the elves started cheering. They were elves, after all, and they loved seeing their boss. Well, almost all of the elves did. Jingle and Sprinkle stayed quiet, until Sprinkle finally spoke up: “We need to talk to him. We need to find out what’s wrong.”

“Oh, jeepers!”


	2. December 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> who i still haven't been able to think of a better thing for  
> but who i still appreciate
> 
> endnotes declared enemies of the state. from now we fight from up here. anyway, its really cold out but i have to leave for dnd, so today's chapter's out a little early

“No. No, no, no, no. It can’t be.”

Santa had been walking in circles around his office for the past many hours and repeating those very same words to himself for at least as long. There were surely better ways he could have handled this, but he’s new in the job - it’s only his fifty seventh year - and he didn’t know what to do when all the machines started producing coal.

Maybe he got tired of walking around or maybe he just remembered the bell hanging by his door. He took a few steps towards it, pulled the string attached to it and waited. Waited. Wai–

The door swung open and in stepped two elves. Two of his most trusted elves. “Jingle! Jangle!”

“Thaaaaat’s right!” said Jangle.

After the door has closed behind them, Santa continued: “I’m so happy you’re here. Do we know what’s going on?” He had his hopes high. Unlike himself, Jingle and Jangle did not need to sleep for eleven months to recover from the month of December and the two of them had always been his most trusted helpers.

“I’m afraid not, boss.” Jingle did not look too happy. “Or. I’m afraid so. Yes! And no. Both! You see, we’ve figured out the problem. Kind of. It’s just that we don’t know what caused it, how to fix it or what to do except… produce more coal. Which we’re doing, by the way. We’re producing and gift wrapping so much coal.”

“Well, what’s going on then?”

“It’s the lists, boss. No one’s on the nice list and everyone’s on the naughty list.”

Santa raised his eyebrow. This did not make any sense. Not once during his time as Santa had no one been on the nice list. It was not good for his legacy: Something like this had never happened to any of the others either. “This can’t be.”

“It can be.” Jingle said.

Jangle followed up: “Thaaaaat’s right!” For the first time, he did not look happy. That was not good. That was not good at all.

A deep sigh sounded throughout Santa’s Workshop. This would be a busy night. This would be a busy week. This would be a busy month. And he did not know what he was supposed to do with it all.


	3. December 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> a true babe who’s right now writing on our shared project on incels  
> while i’m writing about santa claus maybe saving christmas, who knows
> 
> thank you to everyone who's leaving comments, y'all are sweet and making me cry lkjsdfs

“Bring out the lists.”

“But Santa–”

“I said bring out the lists! I need to see it, Jingle.” Santa was stressed. More stressed than he usually was, but that was easy to say. He had never been stressed before, not outside of the first couple of years in his service - and even that was more a matter of stressing about not doing well and living up to the expectations that came with being Santa Claus. Or maybe the time Minerva Meltheart threatened 

Jangle left the room and Santa assumed it was to get the lists. He also assumed he assumed correctly, because Jingle sighed and sat on the floor. Santa joined her and the two sat in silence.

A few minutes later, Jangle returned with two pieces of paper: One short and one unbelievably long. He handed them to Santa, then went to sit next to Jingle.

There was nothing Santa wanted more but to find answers in these two pieces of paper. He wanted to look at them and suddenly know how to solve Christmas. However, all he saw was a nearly blank piece of paper, only the words  _ Nice List  _ scribbled in cursive on the top of the page. It was frustrating, but not as frustrating as the pretty, cursive  _ Naughty List,  _ followed by the names of all the Children on the earth. “They don't deserve this,” he said. “They deserve so much better.”

Jingle nodded. “They really do.”

Jangle nodded too. “Thaaaaaat’s right!”

“We need to figure out a plan.” Santa got off the floor. Jingle and Jangle stayed seated. “We need to figure out a way to save Christmas. All the kids can’t be on the Naughty List. All the kids in the world can impossibly be this bad.”

And while Jingle and Jangle both kept nodding, none of them said anything. Not for awhile anyway. Then Jingle got up from the floor. “I’ll see what I can do, boss.”

Santa thanks her before she leaves the room, but instead of being helpful and trying to figure a solution out on himself, he just sits back down on the floor, this time next to Jangle. “This is real bad, Jangle.”

“Thaaaat’s right.”

“Like, what am I supposed to do. Just sit here?”

“Thaaaaat’s….. right?” Jangle said.

Santa had never seen him express himself like this. It was progress. Just a little bit of progress, but what more could he ask for? They kept small talking, which mostly consisted of Santa airing his worries, but it was nice. Caming, even.

Then the door opened again and in stepped Jingle. “I’ve got… something!” She was carrying a box and she looked rather stressed, so they both got up from the floor. Jangle grabbed the box and Santa grabbed Jingle, but in a hug.

“What?” Santa asked, when he broke the hug. “Something good?”

“I don’t know. But let’s take a look.”

And so a look they took and in the box was many things. Mostly papers, but papers were important, he supposed. Papers made rules and papers carried magic. “Why is there a memory deletion stone in here?” he asked.

Jingle shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe so it’s easy to remember where it is?” She seemed to think about it for a while. Then she turned to look at him again. “Do you want me to wipe your memory? Then we can just tell you everyone being on the  _ Naughty List  _ is on purpose and that everything’s fine, and we can keep working on solving the problems behind your back?”

Santa laughed. It wasn’t the happiest of laughs. “No, I think I’m good.”

They kept looking and thinking and searching for answers, reading and sighing and hoping they’d magically find a solution. Santa didn’t know how many hours they had spent in his office, when Jingle finally seemed to think of something. “I have an idea!”

“What’s the idea?” Santa was excited.

Jingle pushed a piece of paper towards him. An old spell used by Father Winter himself. An age changing spell. “What if we send you back in time to high school?”

“I’ve never gone to high school.” He thought about it for awhile. “Also that sounds terrifying. Messing with time is never a good idea.”

“Not literally. But what if we figuratively send you back in time to high school? Make you into a high school student and enroll you in school? Then you can figure out what’s changed.”

“I don’t know…” It seemed like a bad idea.

“But you’ll do it?” Her eyes were shining. She really believed in this, huh?

“Of course I’ll do it. I’ll do anything to save Christmas.”


	4. December 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> because sometimes……….  
> you just gotta dedicate things, man
> 
> in this chapter, i will demonstrate my vast knowledge of sports, as well as my tendency to commit to dumb things instead of listening to my friend's smart suggestion for me to just use basketball

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Jingle?” Santa asked. Well, not Santa. Kris. That was the name they had decided to go with. Kris Kringle. And he was going to save Christmas. Or at least he was going to try.

Jingle offered him a thumbs up. “Positive, boss.”

“Thaaaaaat’s right!”

“See, even Jangle believes in me. And I believe in you, so that means he believes in you too.” She pulled a hat out of her bag and then proceeded to pull it down over his head. “And it’s not just us. Sprinkle believes in you. And Sparkle. And Jolly. And–” she cut herself off and shook her head. “All of the elves believe in you. We know you can do it. We know you can save Christmas.”

Jangle nodded. And Santa…. Kris…. Whatever. Kris knew what that meant. It meant she was right and that he was just going to have to listen to her. Which he didn’t mind. She was a smart cookie. And if she thought being in a teenage body and in a teenage-filled school could help save Christmas, then jinkies! He was going to do it.

Jingle put her hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be right with you, boss.” She squeezed his shoulder and offered him a big smile.

“Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah! Of course, we’ll be at the Northpole overlooking everything there, but in spirit and in heart? We’ll be with you.”

“Thaaaaaat’s right!”

Kris laughed. He was kind of nervous about all this, but Jingle and Jangle were confident and seemed to handle it well, so he supposed he’d just have to believe in himself as well. This would be alright. He would figure it out. “Well, I guess I’ll better be off then,” he announced. “Jingle.” He nodded to her and smiled. She smiled back. “Jangle.”

Jangle didn’t just smile back. He went to give Kris a hug. A few seconds later, Jingle followed and joined in. It made Kris laugh: A proper belly laugh. They pulled back, then said their final goodbyes and made their leave.

Northville High School was weird. It looked weird. Or maybe not weird. Maybe just different. It  _ definitely  _ looked different. But then again, Kris had only ever been used to the Northpole and his workshop there. And his workshop was definitely not a high school. It didn’t matter how it looked, he told himself. He’d have to get used to it and even if he couldn’t, he’d just have to deal with it. Maybe that was what saving Christmas was all about?

No. It probably wasn’t. But he did wish it would be that simple.

He could do this. He could definitely do this. He didn’t want to do this, because now that he was in a teenage body, other teenagers was the most terrifying thing he could think of and skipping his first day sounded so good. But he was going to do this. Because jinkies! He was Santa Claus. And he was going to save Christmas, whatever it took. And if it took telling himself that over and over again, he would do so.

Despite the name and the fact that they were well into December - four days were a lot when you were awake only one month a year - Northville didn’t look very Christmas ready. Sure, most of the colors here were red, white and green, but there were far more posters for something called sportsball than there were Christmas decorations, and well… Kris was much more of a Christmas person than a sportsball one. So it worried him.

But he’d do this, he told himself. He’d probably volunteer to stay after school to do some decorations, but then he’d do this. He’d save Christmas, no matter how many teenagers it took getting to know or how much sportsball he’d have to play. He was Santa and he was going to get things right.


	5. December 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> because there’s only four months until your birthday  
> and that’s worth celebrating, probably
> 
> okay okay okay, so i realize that this chapter is published super early in the day BUT i'm excused because it's my birthday

“Hey!” A voice behind him called. “You’re the new kid, right? Kris?”

Kris turned around and made eye contact with the girl the voice seemed to belong to. “Hey.” Then he nodded. “That would be me.”

She offered him a smile and he smiled back at her. Then they shook hands. “My name’s Noelle. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” His second school day was almost over and he didn’t feel like he’d made much progress on the whole figuring out what had changed and thus saving Christmas for children all over the globe, which was stressful - so it was nice stopping for a chat with a friendly face. Not that he knew Noelle: He’d seen her around in a few of his classes, but they’d never spoken before just now. Still, she seemed friendly. Most people did.

“So, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go ice skating with me? There’s a rink not far from the school and…” She paused and seemed to be in deep thought for a while, but then she just shrugged and continued. “I don’t know. I just thought it’d be a good time.”

She really was a friendly face, huh? “I would love to!”

“Great! See you at the rink!” She started walking away, then turned around after shortly after. “I’m realizing you probably don’t know where that is. Let’s just meet outside the school after classes are over, yeah?”

And so they did. Kris was excited about this development: Noelle certainly was a teenager and maybe other teenagers hang out around the rink as well? Worst case scenario, this was just a fun afternoon with a potential friend.

They skated around for awhile and Noelle told her about town: Northville High School was the coolest high school in town, but there was another school called South Heights. It was mostly fancy, pretentious people who went there, she told him. “Northville is much better,” she told him. “Like sure, we have our flaws, but doesn’t every high school?”

“Sure,” Kris answered with confidence. “All the high schools I’ve ever gone to certainly has had flaws.”

“Oh? How many different high schools have you gone to?”

The answer was zero. One if he counted Northville, but he didn’t know if he should. “Seven!” Maybe he should think things through instead of just saying the first thing that came to mind, but now he was going to commit.  _ Seven _ .

“That’s… wow. That’s a lot of–”

One moment, Noelle was standing upright and talking to Kris - the next she was on the ice. When she looked up from it, Kris followed her eyes only to see a boy skating by with his middle fingers up. “Suck it, Nite!” And then he was gone.

Kris hurried to help her up. “Noelle! Are you alright?”

“Yeah…” She sighed and let him help her to her feet. She lingered a bit too long in his arms, then pulled back and spun around on her skates. “I’m fine. Sylvester is just an asshole.”

The boy, Sylvester, circled back around to them and started making kissing noises to Noelle, who sighed. “Ah,  _ fuck _ . Maybe I’m not? I don’t know. I just really don't want to have to deal with Sylvester today. How do you feel about going somewhere else and getting hot chocolate instead?”

Kris smiled at her. “That sounds good.”


	6. December 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> a gal  
> who is also a pal
> 
> i wrote this while listening to the songs from black friday on the digital ticket and im publishing it while deck the halls (of northville high) plays. it's all by coincident and idk, i figured i just wanted to share that

Already on his first Friday at Northshore High, Kris got to experience his very first high school party, as well as his very first game of sportsball. In fact, he got to experience two of them.

During school, there’s a gym class. The teacher was excited as he also coaches the Northville sportsball team and there’s a match against South Heights after school. So he decided it’s a perfect time for their class to engage in some casual sportsball.

Not wanting to appear like an irregular teenager who thought sportsball was just a fake thing until just two days ago, Kris quickly excused himself to the bathroom - and with the help of a little ice magic, he suddenly knew everything there was to know about sportsball. Thank Father Winter for magic!

It didn’t take long for him to discover that maybe he now knew a bit too much. The teacher called him a natural out there and he got strange looks from Sylvester, who - before they had started playing - had bragged about being the captain of Northville’s sportsball team. He didn’t like lying, but he lied and told the teacher that he’d played since he was little. Then he hurried into the changing room and hoped no one else would question him about it.

Then after school, he and Noelle went to watch the sportsball game together. They shared fries and laughs, and none of them cared when the game was over and Northville turned out to be ones losing. Apparently, the loss didn’t mean a lot to them: It’s their first loss of the season and a victory would just have meant South Heights wouldn’t have proceeded to finals.

But whatever! Sports and sportsball didn’t mean a lot, was all Kris learned. It was about community and about having fun. That was what kid these days liked. Fun and fries.

After the game, Kris and Noelle went their separate ways, but not before agreeing to meet at the party in the evening. Getting dressed was far more exciting than waiting around for the party to begin, so Kris decided that even though it wouldn’t matter much in the end, he’d mess around and try that thing the teachers called homework. Turns out? Not much better than doing nothing.

As it turned out, high school parties had far less dancing than Kris had expected going in to it. Most people just stood around and spoke, and that was probably fine.

The eggnog started off tasting regular, but store-bought. It didn’t remain like that. Kris couldn’t quite place what it was, but at some point during the evening, it started tasting better. Much better. He had some. Then some more. And some more. He had a good night. A very good one, in fact.


	7. December 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> accepting, amazing, alive
> 
> fun fact: the december 7 chapter is 777 words and uhhhhh idk that's pretty iconic imo

“Oh boy!” Jingle yawned.

Her and Jangle watched on the magical TV screen in Santa’s office back at the Northpole, as teenage human Santa - Kris - after the afterparty and longer after midnight stumbled into bed and passed out.

She turned to face her life-long friend and co-worker. “Do you think he’s alright? Do you think he’s been poisoned? Do you think he’ll be alright? What if he’s dead? You don’t think he’s dead, do you?”

A hand landed on her shoulder and she instantly relaxed a bit more. Sure, Jangle didn’t say much, but he had a calming presence like no other and Jingle could appreciate that.

“Thank you, Jangle.” She smiled. He smiled back.

For a while, they just sat in silence and watched as their boss tossed and turned in his teenage sleep. It was far from the most exciting thing in the world they could be doing, but Jingle didn’t feel like contributing to jinking coal production.

Santa Claus would be saving Christmas and the lumps of coal would be useless in the end. They had to be. Otherwise Jingle would have to make her own plan and no kid would get any presents from Santa this year. No gifts were better than coal. Coal was bad. And Christmas couldn’t be bad.

She sighed. “You think we should go to bed, Jangle?”

“Thaaaat’s right!”

They nodded in unison, then Jingle went and got them their blankets. They were tucked away in a corner of the room and Jingle knew there was no chance they were leaving this office unless they found it absolutely necessary - so she put the blankets down in front of the screen, then went and got their pillows as well. Then they said their goodnights and went to bed.

When they woke up, they both looked at the screen and expected a little too much. They expect their boss to be up, awake and working towards figuring out what was up with teenagers and other brands of kids these days, so he could save Christmas for the Northpole and all of the elves. What they got was a teenager-bodied Santa, still asleep.

“Jeepers!”

“Thaaaaaat’s right!”

Jingle laughed a little, then gently patted Jangle’s shoulder. “You also think we should do something, right? Like go there despite the fact that we don’t have as powerful ice magic as he does? And help make sure he doesn’t do something dumb and ruins Christmas for the entire world?”

“Thaaaaaaaat’s right!”

“And we should not tell Sprinke about it, so they can’t tell us it’s a bad idea?”

This time, Jangle didn’t give his confirmative one liner, but rather he gave Jingle a long and hard look.

Of course, she knew what that meant. “You’re right. We should run this by Sprinkle so they don’t get worried and so they know what’s up and can act accordingly.”

“Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat’s right!”

Sprinke gave them an ‘ _ Absolutely not, no. This is a bad idea. What are you doing? Why are you leaving? Ugh, jinkies! _ ’ and with that, they were off.

The journey would be long, but just as they had made it home, they would make it back to Santa and Northville High School. Sure, they had teleportation, but only relatively short distances with recharge time, so they spent a fair bit of their day walking.

At some point while they were walking through a snow-covered forest, it suddenly got extremely cold. Much colder than it  _ should  _ get and that was a lot to say for an elf. Jingle looked around confused and so did Jangle.

Apparently, Jangle figured out what was up before Jingle did, because he tackled her and brought her to the ground. She was about to speak up and ask him what the flip he was doing, but he put is index finger to his lips, then pointed.

Not far from them, a lady was floating just above the snow-covered ground. Her body was frozen, so frozen it was almost ice, and Jingle immediately knew who it was: Minerva Meltheart.

She had always been confused by that name. Why was the queen of ice named  _ Meltheart _ ? It made no sense. She likely would never get an answer, because speaking with her would most likely result in getting instantly frozen since Jingle was an elf working for Santa himself.

Jingle’s brain ran on high speed. Maybe she’d heard about Santa being stuck in a teenage body in a small town away from the Northpole? Maybe she was on her way there? Either way, this was bad and they needed to get to Santa even more and even quicker.

Jinkies! This was not good at all.


	8. December 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> because she’s the best  
> and because she deserves it
> 
> kris is feeling better, and honestly? good for him

Finally feeling significantly better than he had felt all of Saturday, Kris finally got himself together and made his way out of his small apartment. He figured that since he’d wasted most of yesterday feeling bad about himself, he’d better do something productive today. And so, something productive he did.

Aside from seeing Noelle get pushed around by that Sylvester kid, Kris had enjoyed himself immensely when they’d gone ice skating earlier in the week, so he decided to make his way back to the rink and have some fun. Hopefully other youths would have similar ideas and he could have a day that was not only fun, but also fun and edumacational.

Not a lot of people were at the rink when he arrived, but maybe that was fine. It was fairly early in the morning and from what his teenager body had experienced yesterday, it was sometimes hard to get up early in the morning. Luckily Kris didn’t mind playing the waiting game and he had a fun couple of hours, just skating around on his own.

It was around eleven when a slightly bigger crowd started appearing. There didn’t appear to be anyone Kris knew or even recognize, but considering how he’d only been in town for approximately a week, that probably made a lot of sense. He’d get to know someone, though. It couldn’t be that hard.

He would skate up and talk to whoever first caught his attention, he decided. So he looked around for a moment and then, someone did: A girl with fairly short blonde hair in a completely lilac outfit from top to toe, who seemed to be skating alone.

“Hey,” he greeted as he skated up to her. “Nice skates!”

She looked up. “Uhh, hi. Thank you?” She tilted her head a bit to the side and raised an eyebrow at him. “Who are you?”

“Kris! Kris Kringle.” He extended his hand to her. “Who are you?”

She looked at his hand for a while before finally shaking it. She even offered him a small smile. “Mary. Mary Mistle.”

“Nice to meet you, Mary Mistle.”

“Right back at you, Kris Kringle.”

Kris Kringle and Mary Mistle spent a few hours together that Sunday. They mostly skated around together and Kris didn’t know how edumacational it was, but it was a good time.

She insisted on calling him Kris Kringle, never just Kris, and she didn’t come here often, but thought it was very awkward of him to ask her like that. She mostly came in the southern part of town and was even a South Heights student, but she tried to make it to the northside skating rink at least once every weekend when it wasn’t filled with Northville kids. She was trying to avoid one in particular and figured that attempting to avoid all of them usually did the trick. Since Kris didn’t know a whole lot about who went to Northville yet, he didn’t ask who.

“Alright, I gotta split,” Mary said when it was nearing four. “You’re not too bad, Kris Kringle. Even if you picked Northville of all places. You got a phone number?”

“I absolutely do.” He didn’t. “I just never remember what it is and accidentally left my phone at home. If you write yours down, I’ll text you eventually.”

She laughed. “You could also just say you didn’t like hanging out with me.” But she found a piece of paper and scribbled her number down anyway. “See you later, alligator.” And she was off.

Kris, a human and not an alligator, stood around for a while trying to process that whole thing. Then he shrugged and went home, but not before picking up a phone on the way.


	9. December 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> a champion hero  
> with nothing to fearow  
> (though she still don’t know where to put mr. mime)
> 
> kris is a bad boy now, its canon

It was Monday and Kris was back at school. Today was yet another gym class and since he’d messed up last week and had pretended to be good at sportsball, he figured he might as well keep it up.

“Wow.” Noelle came up to him while they were taking a small break. “Nice work today, Kris. Why didn’t you tell me you were good at sportsball before?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just not as invested in it as I once was.” It was a question of her not needing to know that he was never really invested. Lying to the teacher was one thing, though, but lying to Noelle? That felt way worse. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

“Oh, shut it.” She laughed a little. Then a ball hit her head. “Ow! What the f–” She cut herself off as another ball came flying at her, but this time she luckily dodged. “What the fuck, you guys!” She put her middle finger up.

Kris turned to see who had done it. Unsurprisingly, the answer was Sylvester and a few of his friends. Then he quickly made his way to Noelle and tried to help her up.

“God, I hate those guys,” she said once she was back on her feet. “Like, why can’t they find anything better to do?”

Kris didn’t have an answer to that, so he just shrugged.

Then the time came for them to return to sportsball. They played for the same team and Kris made sure to be extra careful about keeping an eye on her. In the process, he also kept his eyes on Sylvester and his friends. One of them  _ accidentally  _ tackled her, but Kris didn’t think it looked like an accident and the look in Noelle’s eyes didn’t either.

That’s why, when Sylvester and his friend who had pushed Noelle came running close to each other, but also a bit too close to some dumpsters, Kris used just a little bit of his ice magic to apparate some ice on the gym floor. Not enough so that it would be noticeable, but just enough so that it would cause two boys in a sprint to slip.

And slip they did. They slipped right into the dumpsters and no one noticed a thing, as they were too busy laughing. Well, no one but Noelle who had been close to them as they slipped and who now looked at Kris with a puzzled look. He tried to play it off as nothing and would continue doing so.

Maybe this wasn’t the nicest thing he could have done, but he helped out a friend and that’s more important, he decides to himself. It’s also helped make sportsball far more fun.


	10. December 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> i believe in you  
> with my whole heart
> 
> today is a very short chapter and i apologize, but uhhhh.... in the words of a famed prophet or whatever, "it be like that sometimes"

“Hey, Kris?”

Kris turned around. Behind him was his gym teacher, the sportsball coach. “Yes?”

The coach caught up to him and put his hand on Kris’ shoulder. “Would you mind coming with me to my office? It’s just down that hallway.”

“Uhhh.” Confused as to what he’d done wrong, Kris desperately threw a look in Noelle’s direction. She was standing just out of range for him to reach out and touch her, but close enough so that he could send her the ‘ _ Help! What do I do? _ ’-look. “Sure?”

And so, with Noelle returning his confused gaze, he followed the coach to his office and hoped for the best, but expected the worst. He  _ had _ caused two students to slip and fall during gym class yesterday, all things considered, and he wasn’t completely sure the coach hadn’t noticed.

The office was filled with sportsball posters and countless small trophies. Kris assumed they were also of the sportsball variety. The coach gestured to a chair and Kris sat down in it while the coach made his way around the table to sit down in his own chair.

“So Kris,” he began. “I know this is a lot to ask and I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t absolutely desperate. But sportsball finals are coming up next week and our starplayer is injured and you’re goddamn talented, is what you are. I want us to win against South Height and show them what we’re made of. Think you can fill in?”

Oh.  _ Oh _ . The coach didn’t know a thing and he really should decline, with those injuries probably –  _ most definitely _ – being his fault. But on the other hand… wouldn’t it be a bigger insult to the school and the sportsball team if he didn’t at least try to make this whole thing better by trying his best to get them a victory?

“Of course, coach. I’d love to!”


	11. December 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> because christmas decorations are more wholesome than incels  
> and she, like i, deserve a distraction from that stuff
> 
> sometimes your options in life is to either write a wholesome christmas calendar about santa claus transforming into a teenager or writing your analysis for your big uni project of the semester. you pick the christmas calendar

At the start of the school day, Kris had made the critical mistake of complaining to Noelle. “Don’t you ever feel like this school is a little short on Christmas decorations?” He had asked her. “Like… I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas yet and it’s so close, you know?”

She had been tired at that point and had just kind of shrugged it off, but it was after school, they hadn’t made it out of the building yet and Noelle was awake as ever.

“Come with me.” She hadn’t asked him if he wanted to, but rather she had grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards an empty classroom down the hallway.

“Where are we going?” He asked. He didn’t resist, not at all in fact. Her hand was warm and her company was nice - far nicer than sitting alone and waiting around for tomorrow, but also just nice in general.

She didn’t answer. She just kept pulling him down the hallway until they eventually reached the classroom. “Ta-daa!” She said as she opened the door and extended out her arm to show it off. The room was filled with Christmas decorations and on the tables stood a few boxes. It made Kris’ face light up. “I had a free period and saw this room was free the rest of the day. I figured we could make some more decorations together and spice up the place. Is that cool with you?”

“Yes!” Kris only barely gave her time to finish her sentence before he said yes. “Yes, that is so cool with me!”

It made her laugh a bit, which only made him light up even further.

They started making decorations and they made lots of them. They were lucky the school didn’t close until late tonight seeing as the football team had practice, so they had lots of time. Noelle had even called her mom and asked if it was okay, to which she had gotten a yes.

Then Noelle had asked if he didn’t need to call his parents and he had confessed to her that they didn’t do that in the Kringle family. Sure, maybe that was because the Northpole didn’t have a phone and Kris didn’t  _ technically  _ have a family, but it was much more cool and casual to pretend that his family was just that cool and casual.

A lot of Christmas decorations later, Noelle asked Kris what he had done on the weekend. After telling her about how awful he’d felt on Saturday and she had told him what a hangover was, he had told her about skating. Then he’d mentioned Mary.

“Mary… who?” She asked.

“Uhh.. Mary Mistle, I think?”

Noelle’s face went white. “Oh.”

That didn’t seem completely normal and Kris looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You know her?” He figured the answer was yes, but there was no harm in asking, right?

“Yeah…” Noelle shook her head. Then she was smiling again. It wasn’t too sincere of a smile. “We, uh. We used to be friends. Best friends in fact.”

“Oh?”

“Oh,” she confirmed.

He gave her time to elaborate on her own, but she didn’t. And while Kris did everything he could not to let his curiosity get the best of him, it eventually did after about twelve very long seconds. “What happened?”

“Nothing!” Noelle said, a bit too quickly. “Or, well. Something. We, uh. We had a bit of a falling out, but it was over something stupid, really. We’d kind of always been best friends and we talked about going to the same high school, but she wanted to go to South Heights and I wanted to be here. We tried to remain friends, but she tried a little harder and I kind of forgot about her trying to make friends here.”

“Oh, so it wasn’t a bad falling out? That’s nice.”

Noelle laughed a bit. “Yeah, well uh… She told me she was upset about it and I didn’t handle it too nicely. I kind of, uh… flipped out on her and… said some not so nice stuff. Like some really not so nice stuff. And… this is making me look really bad and I’m sorry. I did some not so cool stuff and lost a really close friend. She won’t even look at me anymore and I know it’s my fault, which just… makes it worse, you know?”

He nodded. Not that he did know. It all sounded confusing to him, but friendships were a confusing manner. At the Northpole, everyone was friends, so he hadn’t tried to navigate stuff like this before. He reached out for her hand and she took it.

They shared a long look, then she squeezed his hand. “Wanna go help me hang these up, Kringle?”

Of course his answer was yes.


	12. December 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> for letting me stay up until 5  
> like a true bro (brother)
> 
> i've done the math and the results are in: the project i have to hand in for 80% of my uni grade for this semester that's due monday < making sure to update kris kringle's high school shenanigans every single day. ANYWAY i hope y'all are having a good december!!!!

Walking into school the next day was incredible. Sure, the work they had done hadn’t been much, with them being only two and all, but they had gotten some decorations up all over the school before heading up. There was something homely about seeing Northville High School get into the Christmas spirit, even if this was but a small step.

The start of his day was a good and happy one. On his lunch break, he planned to go to the rink with a few friendly faces after school. That, too, was pretty nice. Then a teacher stepped out on the balcony overlooking the cafeteria. “Kristofer Kringle! Report to the principal’s office immediately!”

“Mr. Humbugger!” Kris exclaimed as the teacher gave him a look, then walked off. Kris himself started walking towards the office. He just needed to make a quick stop by his locker to drop his books off before. “I’m in trouble now,” he whispered to himself as he opened his locker.

“You bet you are!”

Out from his locker came Jingle. “Jingle!” Then Jangle. “Jangle! If anyone sees two elves in my locker, I’ll get expelled for sure.” He was stressed about the whole meeting with the principal thing, but knew he couldn’t just skip out on talking to his two trusted friends… employees… whatever! “What are you two doing here?”

“We’re here to make sure you don’t screw up Christmas, boss!”

“Thaaaaaat’s right!” Jangle added.

Kris heard a voice from behind him. “Hey, Kris!”

“Noelle!” He turned around, trying to block off her view to his locker. He couldn’t have her seeing Jingle and Jangle, especially not since she was the only one he could think of who would have noticed anything strange about him so far.

“Uh, were you just talking to your locker?” She asked.

Kris tried to come up with a response, but luckily Jingle spoke before and it somehow gave him more time. Maybe. Maybe not? “Don’t worry, boss, she can’t see us. But if she finds out you’re Santa… Father Winter’s spell will be broken!”

“Thaaaaaaaat’s right!”

“Uh… nope!” Kris said to Noelle. “Just, uhhh… Just dropping off my books before going to the principal’s office.” He gave her a smile before turning to drop the books off in his locker.

“Nice save, boss.”

Noelle didn’t look entirely convinced. “Alright?”

“Anyway, I gotta go.” He booped her nose with his finger, regretted it immediately and then took off. “Catch you later!”


	13. December 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> who, according to math  
> is one hundred percent babey
> 
> it's friday the 13th which means i have plans pretty much all day, so uhhh. we're posting this now. is this chapter spooky themed for the holidays? you'll just have to read and find out! (yes friday the 13th is a holiday let me live)

Another Friday meant another party. This one, however, wasn’t at the school. Rather, it was down in the southernmost part of town. It was one of those kinds of houses that Noelle had explained to him was only rented to be used for parties and similar events.

He got ready in his apartment, but not alone this time. Jingle and Jangle were there and giving him their honest opinion on the outfits he tried on.

After what felt like about a million ‘ _ no, not that one’ _ s from Jingle, she finally said something else. “That’s the one, boss!”

“Thaaaaaaaaat’s right!” It was nice to have Jangle to hype Jingle’s statement up. Jangle hadn’t ever lied to him that he knew of, so he knew Jingle was right. This  _ was  _ the one.

“Aight, I’m heading out. Don’t wait up, okay?” He didn’t know why he spoke to them like it mattered. Maybe because they were older than him and not going out on this here Friday night?

Jingle got off her spot on the floor and went to put an arm on Kris’ shoulder. “And you’re sure you don’t want us to go with us? Could be dangerous, you know.”

Kris laughed. “Thank you, Jingle, but it’s just a small party with my high school friends. And I guess my high school’s rivals as well, but it’ll be fun. And I’ll be fine. Seriously. Don’t worry about me.”

“Alright…” She said. Then she hugged him. “Take care, boss.”

He told him he would and with that, he was off.

The party had been going for a few hours before Noelle arrived. Noelle was his favorite of his new friends and Kris went and hugged her immediately when he saw her.

“Hey there, you.” She laughed as she hugged him back. “You haven’t had as much eggnog as last time, have you?” She’d seen him drink last time and he’d complained to her about his Saturday. He’d laughed at him then too.

He shook his head. “Nope!” Sure, he’d still had  _ a few  _ glasses, but nothing near what he had last time. “How was studying?”

“About as fun as you’d expect.” She pulled back from the hug, only to take his hand and pull him towards the table with the eggnog. “How was partying?”

“About as fun as you’d expect.” He didn’t know if that was true. He’d had a good time, but he’d also looked around for a friendly face. Well, two friendly faces. Noelle… Mary… none of them had showed. Well, Noelle had, but that was just now. He’d still had fun, though.

“Nice.” They sat down for a while and spoke while Noelle had her first drink of the night. When she was done, she looked at Kris with a very serious glare. She broke it quickly, though. “You wanna join me on the dance floor?”

He did. So they went and they danced and they had fun. When they didn’t want to anymore, they grabbed another glass of eggnog and sat down in a group of people to join in on whatever they were doing.

It was almost midnight when Noelle asked him to dance again. He said yes and joined her on the dancefloor. A lot of the people in their group follow them. He’s not good at dancing, but he tries his best anyway. It’s fun.

He shivered. It got cold-cold. Unusually cold, even for Kris.

Then the lights went out.


	14. December 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> hard life, hard plate  
> and other things danish people say
> 
> zoinks! i almost had kris think fuck but i caught it seconds before uploading. sorry to everyone who's banking on him being cooler than he actually is

For a long time, it did not get any warmer. The lights didn’t turn on either. It was kind of worrying him, but he had just had such a good time, so he tried not to think too much about it.

Not until the door opened, at least. Not until she stepped in.

Minerva Meltheart, his sworn nemesis from so long ago, was here. Here where he didn’t have his elves to help protect him. Here where he didn’t even have Jingle and Jangle because he was silly enough to leave them at home.

No one really moved. Well, no one but Minerva at least. She made her way into the room and drew all eyes to her. It was only then Kris noticed the music had gone out as well, as all he was able to hear was the sound of her dress dragging along the floor.

“Who are you?” Someone asked. “This is a private part, you’re not supposed to be here.” It was Sylvester. He was kind of standing up, which was nice. From what Kris had understood, the fall into the trash cans hadn’t treated him well. He felt bad about it.

Then he started feeling even worse when he saw Minerva make her way towards him and pushing him to the ground with ease.  _ Jeepers! _

“Where is he?” She asked.

He looked around and saw people holding their hands up to their ears and quickly mimicked this movement. Maybe if he pretended to be a regular teenager who also felt just how cold her voice was she wouldn’t notice he was Santa Claus.

No one seemed to answer her, so she repeated herself. “I said: Where. Is. He?”

Now people were moving more and they were moving in the right direction. Out. Away. Someone was helping up Sylvester, which was nice to see. Whoever it was looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place who she was, so he just decided to start fleeing with the rest of the kids. Most importantly: With Noelle.

On his way out, he tried to stay away from Minerva Meltheart as best as he could. He knew what she could do and it wasn’t good. They locked eyes. Only for a second, though, because he thought to shiver and that seemed to draw her attention away. At least for now. If she could think he was a regular teen, he’d be good. He’d be so good.

But she was close. Way too close. And she needed to figure out some way to stop her. He didn’t have time to do that now, though. Right now he needed to focus on getting himself and everyone else and especially Noelle out of there.

Somebody seemed to be calling the police. That meant he didn’t have to and he was happy with that chain of events.

“Hey, do you need a ride home?” It was Noelle. She had gripped onto his hand inside and was still holding it. Well, she was until the both looked at their hands. Now she was just looking down. “I don’t really want to stay here and I know your parents work weird hours, so I’m sure my mom don’t mind dropping you off.”

“That would be great.” He smiled at her. She smiled back. “Thank you so much.”


	15. December 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> why couldn't i just get away with simply dedicating all chapters to you?  
> why must i also write dumb anecdotes? why?
> 
> i'm officially done with uni until january, which means more time to write dumb stuff – and isn't that what is christmas is really all about?

Much like earlier this December, Santa was walking around in circles in a room and hoping it would solve his problems. After two hours, he concluded that it didn’t. So he broke out a more desperate approach.

“Jingle. Jangle. I think I know what we have to do,” he informed them. They looked at him, confused, and turned their heads a bit to the side in unison. “We need to call someone at the Northpole. We need to call someone who knows  _ something _ .” He paused, sighed, then made eye contact with Jingle. “We need to call Sprinkle.”

“Oh, jeepers!” Jingle exclaimed. “Can we please call anyone else? Anyone but Sprinkle? Please?”

Now it was Kris’ turn to look confused. “Sprinkle is the smartest elf on the Northpole, no offense.”

“None taken.”

“They’ll know what to do. We need to call them.”

Jingle sighed. “You’re right, boss.”

“Thaaaaaaat’s right!” Jangle added. It at least made Jingle smile.

With the help of some handy ice magic, Kris conjured a wall of ice and let it lean against the wall of his apartment. Then he conjured a bit of snow in his hand and blew it at the screen to call up Sprinkle, whose face shortly thereafter appeared on the screen.

They blinked a few times. “Boss. Betrayers. What can I do for you this fine morning?” Kris watched as Jingle and Jangle both pouted. It seemed to amuse Sprinkle.

“Good morning, Sprinkle. Good to see you.” Kris smiled at them. “We’re in a bit of a pickle. And by a bit, I mean a lot. You know of Minerva Meltheart?” Sprinkle nodded, so Kris continued. “Well, she knows of us too. Obviously she does, that’s not the point. The point is, she’s in town.”

“Thaaaaaaat’s right!”

“Thank you, Jangle. It really is right,” Kris continued. Sprinkle did not look too happy. In fact, Sprinkle didn’t look happy at all. They just looked concerned and stressed. “We had a really close encounter with her and by we, I mean me and some of my friends from school. Do you know what we’re supposed to do? Is there even anything we  _ can  _ do?”

Sprinkle seemed to be in deep thought and didn’t say anything for a while. “Hmm. I think there’s something you can do. I mean, there has to be. I just can’t tell you what just yet. If you give me ‘til the end of the day, I can find it! Or well… I hope I can. There should be something that can help around here somewhere. Just… can you tell me everything you know?”

And so Kris told them everything he knew. He told them about the dress Minerva had worn, about the exact color of her crown and how many icicle spikes that emerged from it and about the fact that he had gone to a party, which was where she’d shown up.

Then Sprinkle told him to wait until tonight and then call them again.

So they did. The wait was long and Kris quickly grew impatient, but Jingle – and by extension and logical reasoning, Jangle too – reminded him that this was much too important to just rush into. He couldn’t save Christmas if he couldn’t stop Minerva Meltheart.

By ten, however, he could wait more. So he called up Sprinkle who informed them about some weird ritual they’d done and who  _ thankfully  _ had something to say: “You need to find  _ the Summer Child _ , whatever that means. All I know is that they were at that party you mentioned and that you need to convince them to help you out. It’s the only way to stop her.”


	16. December 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> you did it and i’m proud of you
> 
> noelle deserves better 2krn

“So. Kris.” Noelle pushed her lunch tray onto the table and slid into the seat next to him. “What’s good?”

Kris raised an eyebrow. “What’s good?”

“Yeah. What’s good? How are you? How was your weekend? All that.” She rolled her eyes at him, but followed it up with a smile. “Friday night got pretty weird and as your self-appointed new best friend, it’s my job to make sure you’re good.”

He smiled. That was sweet.  _ She _ was sweet. “Things are pretty good.  _ I’m  _ pretty good. The weekend was a little stressful. Lots of…” Jinkies! He couldn’t just tell Noelle what he’d done over the weekend. He’d have to think quick. “Homework!” Saved it. “So much homework. How are you? How was your homewo— I mean weekend.”

She laughed. “I’m good. My weekend w—“

“Sylvester Summer!” A loud voice rang out from on top of the balcony. It was Mr. Humbugger. “Report to the principal's office immediately!”

Noelle took a second to retrace her line of thoughts after being cut off. Meanwhile Kris’ brain ran on full speed. Sylvester  _ Summer _ ? Could it be? No way. Right? “Anyway, as I was saying, my weekend w—“

Sylvester got up and so did Kris. “Sorry, Noelle, but I gotta go real quick. I do wanna hear about your weekend and I  _ will _ be back, I swear, I just have something I need to do,” he said as he walked away, following Sylvester out into the hallway.

He could hear her sigh as he walked away and he hated that he had to do this, but he sadly felt like he did. Minerva wanted to melt away his ice powers so she could have them for herself and he couldn’t save Christmas without them. He couldn’t be Santa without them. And he couldn’t be around to hear about her weekend if he was powerless.

Sylvester had a little head start, but Kris was a fast walker. While he was still behind, he quickly ran through what Sylvester had wished for for Christmas the last two years. Kids usually stopped writing letters for Santa when they were around eight, maybe nine. Not Sylvester. And the last two years, he’d wished for Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Ultra Sun. Either Sylvester was a fan of the sun, or he played Pokémon. Kris guessed the latter and eventually caught up.

“Hey, Sylvester!” He said.

“Go away,” Sylvester replied. He quickly threw a glance over his shoulder. “I have a meeting with the principal, I don’t need you slowing me down.”

At this point, Kris had more than caught up. He lowered his speed to match Sylvester’s pace. “I was wondering if you’d played the new Pokémon game?”

“Do I look like someone who plays Pokémon to you?” Sylvester laughed a little. Unlike Noelle’s laughter – unlike Jingle and Jangle and any of the elves' laughters – this laughter wasn’t a kind one. “Pokémon’s for nerds. I’m not a nerd. Also, I’m pretty sure I told you to go away.”

“Yeah, but–”

Sylvester stopped. “No. No buts. I have a meeting with the principal and you need to beat it. Understood?”

Kris didn’t say anything for a while, he just looked at Sylvester who stared back. Then he nodded slowly. “Understood. Sorry to bother you.” He’d find another way, he swore by it. Forcing Sylvester to be his friend when he was in a hurry wasn’t the nicest thing to do, so Kris wouldn’t.

Instead, he returned to the cafeteria and slipped back into the seat next to Noelle. He asked her to tell him about her weekend and after a quick glare, she smiled and told him all about it.


	17. December 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to Oneleggedgiraffe –  
> because kris said /that/  
> and that has to be dedicated to you
> 
> if you know nanna, please don't tell her this chapter isn't dedicated to her. thank u, ur a true babe

Snow was falling as Kris, Jingle and Jangle walked together through a local park. It was getting dark, but it still wasn’t so dark they couldn’t see each other. A nice stroll through the park together was what they needed in these stressful times and even though it didn’t feel as though they had the time, Kris had told them it was important to just  _ chill  _ a little. Only a little though.

“I can do this on my own,” he told them. “Sylvester  _ has  _ to be the Summer Child. He was there at the party and she didn’t seem to like him. But he can’t see you guys. He can see me. I’ll get him to help us, I swear.”

Jingle pushed out her lower lip and looked up at Kris with a pout. “But  _ boss _ –”

“No. No ‘ _ but boss’ _ . I need you guys back at the Northpole. I want you to find all the letters we’ve received this year and I want you to start producing every single thing on them.”

“That’s not how it works, boss. The formalities a–”

Kris cut her off. “Fuck the formalities!” He paused for a bit to take it in. Had he just said fuck?  _ Wow _ . He’d have to tell Noelle about this. “We still have time. Not a lot, but we have time. I’m going to send you guys back and you’re going to have to promise me to do this for me.”

Jingle looked at Jangle. Jangle looked at Jingle. Then they both looked back at Kris and nodded in unison. “Alright, boss. We promise.”

“Thaaaaaat’s right!”

A big smile spread on his lips. “Thank you, guys.” He pulled them in for a hug. First Jangle, then Jingle. “I knew I could count on you. Now…” He started drawing a circle in the snow around Jingle and Jangle. “If I could get you guys to stay inside this circle here, you’ll be back at the Northpole in no time.”

They stayed inside the circle and as Kris finished drawing it, they disappeared. Now it was just him and the park and the snow.

Or, at least that was what he thought.

He heard the rustling from the bushes first. Then he heard pleads for help. The last thing he felt was the temperature dropping, then a figure emerged from the bushes. Not Minerva, though.  _ Sylvester _ .

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,  _ fuck _ .” Sylvester swore to himself as he ran. He ran towards Kris and almost slipped, but Kris made sure to catch him. “You gotta run, we gotta run.”

Instead of asking questions, Kris just nodded and ran. He made sure to match Sylvester’s speed, partly to not cause suspicion should they be running from Minevra, but mostly to make sure Sylvester wasn’t alone in whatever he was running from. Kris’ money was still on Minerva.

They ran and ran and ran and ran. They ran until they could not run any longer. Kris had no idea where they were except that they were hiding behind some trash cans, but he did know they were together and he just knew – well, not quite knew, but guessed and hoped – that Minerva had lost them.

“What are we running from?” Kris asked in a hushed tone.

The other boy took a moment to catch his breath before he answered. “That crazy bitch who crashed the party last Friday.”  _ Minerva _ . “Do you think we’re safe?”

Kris crawled a bit out of their hiding spot to take a quick look. Then he crawled back. “I think we are. I can’t see her anywhere, at least.”

“ _Thank_ _fuck_ ,” He breathed out. “Holy fucking shit, dude.”

Kris nodded to himself as he rejoined Sylvester who was leaning against the wall. “I’m sorry I tried to talk to you about Pokémon.”

“Really? You’re going to talk about that now?” Sylvester looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Kris shrugged. “I don’t like Pokémon, man. Sorry to disappoint.”

Kris still didn’t know whether he should believe him or not, but he wasn’t going to be pushing it. Maybe he should just talk to him about something he knew he could get through with. Like Minerva. “Wanna know a secret?” He asked. Sylvester shrugged. He didn’t seem to care either way, so Kris continued. “I’m… actually a secret agent.”

It made Sylvester roll his eyes. He didn’t look like someone who believed what Kris was saying, but it wasn’t like Kris could tell him the full truth. “And my dad’s Barack Obama, former president of the United States.”

“Oh? That’s really cool, honestly.” It was. It wasn’t often you got the chance to meet with a former president’s children, especially not in life or death situations like these.

Sylvester blinked a few times. “You’re a fucking idiot, Kris.”

While Kris didn’t feel like a  _ fucking  _ idiot, he maybe would agree he was a bit of an idiot, so he let it slide. “Anyway, as I was saying. I’m actually a secret agent and I’m in town to stop Minerva Meltheart. Or… ‘ _ the crazy bitch who crashed the party last Friday _ ’, as you call her. But I think I need your help.”

And while Sylvester wasn’t entirely sold on the whole secret agent thing, he had felt what Minerva was capable of doing… so he agreed to help Kris out. They’d get this solved, they’d stop Minerva and Kris would save Christmas.


	18. December 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> because i drove past ur hometown today  
> and that gotta count for something
> 
> uhhhh this chapter is 1333 words and for some reason, that's important for me to point out. enjoy!

Despite having partnered up with Sylvester, Kris still felt at a loss for what to do. He was dealing with a lot, after all. Plus – he had homework on top of it all and even if it didn’t matter much as he wasn’t going to be sticking around, he still felt obligated to do it.

But saving the town and his life and Christmas seemed a tad more important, at least right now, so he pulled himself away from his trigonometry textbook and did the smartest thing he could think of: He went to the skating rink early in the morning, way before school started, to clear his head and try to come up with a smarter plan.

Here, he ran into a friendly face: Mary Mistle. She was skating around on her own, so Kris skated up to her. “Long time no see.”

She smiled at him, but the smile didn’t seem all that happy. He wasn’t a master of emotions, but smiles accompanied by tears usually wasn’t a sign of happiness. “Kris Kringle. Good to see you again. What are you doing here so early?” She sniffled.

“Oh, uhhh… just needed to clear my head before going to school. What are you doing here so early?” He asked back.

She looked at him for a long time without saying anything. Then she sighed loudly. “I used to come here with my mom when I was little. The skating rink is my comfort place. It’s stupid.” She said, before surprising Kris with a hug. He hugged her back and told her in a whisper, that it wasn’t stupid at all. “This Saturday is the ten year anniversary for my mom disappearing. I miss her. I’ve been coming here a lot these days.”

He stayed with her until she had to go to school. Teenagers sure had a lot to deal with, wow. It was strange not seeing their lives from a business perspective and it felt like so much more now that he didn’t just read their letters. Before Mary left, she made him promise he wouldn’t tell  _ anyone  _ that he saw her cry, ever. He promised and then went to school himself.

Then, when he came home, he did something that was actually legit smart and productive: He called Sprinkle and asked them, what he was supposed to do.

“I’m going to be frank with you, boss, I’m not entirely sure. The old texts are, well,  _ old  _ and they’re a bit confusing, even for someone like me,” they told him. “It says here: ‘ _ The Summer Child must touch her chin and melt away the cold within _ ’ and I know that that sounds pretty straight forward, which is why I don’t trust it.” She read him another paragraph from the book: “‘ _ A slumbering hero with awaken once long-kept secrets leave the lips of stars and together, after drinking from the sweetest cup, the hero and the star must free the protector and the false from the claws of the cage _ ’. What is that even supposed to mean?” 

Kris didn’t have an answer, but he thanked them anyway. He promised to call back as soon as he’d attempted this whole getting Sylvester to touch Minerva’s chin business.

Having Sylvester by his side felt nicer than going anywhere alone. There was a certain comfort in not having to face this whole saving the town or world or whatever business alone.

They didn’t really talk outside of Kris filling him in on what he needed to do in order for them to defeat her. Sylvester found the plan stupid, but agreed to go through with it anyway.

Together, they attempted to retrace Sylvester’s steps from last night. It’s only partly a matter of remembrance, though, as it got easier for them to make educated guesses when they got closer. The fact that the temperature dropped the closer they got to her was a great help and they eventually spotted what seemed to be an entrance made out of ice.

Kris gestured towards it silently and after they had waited around for a moment, the two boys made their way inside as quietly as they possibly could. Kris spotted Minerva before Sylvester did. Luckily, Sylvester spotted Minerva before she spotted any of them.

“Hey you!” Sylvester shouted when he was right behind her. She turned around and Kris felt chills run through his entire body. He believed in Sylvester with all of his heart and he watched as the other boy brought his hand up to punch Minerva Meltheart right in her chin.

Unluckily for both Kris and Sylvester, it mostly seemed to hurt Sylvester. “You fool!” She laughed and Kris felt as it got even colder. He tried to get to Sylvester before Minerva did something dangerous to his partner in world-saving (and perhaps his friend? They hadn’t discussed that yet). She turned his gaze to Kris and fired a blast of ice in his direction.

He managed to dodge but he hit his head on some ice in the process and it hurt. It hurt a lot. When he got up from the floor, he felt cold and slow and he didn’t have time to catch up to Minerva and Sylvester before she turned both of them into powdered snow as they teleported away. Jinkies!

Exhausted and not wanting to spend the night alone, Kris did one of the more stupid things he’d ever done. Instead of going home and ensuring Minerva wasn’t following him, he went to Noelle’s house and knocked on her window.

She opened. “Do you have any idea how late it is?” She asked. Then she opened the window further and let him crawl inside. “Fuck, you look cold. Can I get you anything?”

“No, I’m alri–”

“Nonsense!” She grabbed a few blankets and wrapped them around him. “There’s something funny about you, Mr. Kringle. I wanna know how you made ice appear on the gym floor to make those bullies slip and fall into the dumpster.”

He laughed a little. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh yeah? Try me.”

“Noelle.” He sighed. Was he really going to tell her this? “I’m Santa Claus. I can do ice magic and those bullies were bothering you. Now I’m working with one of them to help save this city from someone dangerous: Minerva Meltheart. She calls herself the Ice Queen and different....  _ versions _ of her has always opposed different versions of me. The specifics doesn’t matter. What matters is that I thought Sylvester was the key, but he wasn’t. And I fucked up.”

Noelle stayed quiet for a while. It was a lot to take in, her could understand that. He gave her all the time she needed. “One, I’m proud of you for saying fuck. Two, if you’re really Santa, tell me something embarrassing about Sylvester.”

“He’s in danger and you want to know something embarra–”

“He’s bullied me for the last three years, so yeah. Tell me something. Anything. Please, Kris.” She looked at him with the sweetest puppy dog eyes he’d ever seen.

How was he supposed to resist that? “He still writes letters to the Northpole. Or well, to Santa Claus. He’s secretly a nerd and he has wished for Pokémon games for as long as I can remember.”

Noelle nodded a bit. “I’ve heard him bully kids by calling them nerds. This is usable.”

He probably shouldn’t have told her, but she was always so nice to him and she was always so strong when bad stuff happened, so he figured it was fine to let her have this. In the morning, he could tell her he’d just been having a weird fever and that he made it all up in order to impress her or something. He’d figure it out.

For now, however, he’d just accept that she was finding him a mattress and some more blankets and letting him sleep over on her floor.


	19. December 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> because sometimes ya gotta  
> life you know
> 
> in this chapter kristofer kringle, a himbo with a mission, asks noelle nite, a high school student with much more brains than him, for help in saving the world. good for them

It took a few moments for Kris to realize where he was when he woke up in the morning. He was in Noelle’s room. And he’d told her he was Santa Claus. _Jinkies!_

Noelle was waking up. “Kris?”

“Uh, Noelle! Hi.” He smiled slightly. “Uh thanks for letting me crash.”

“Yeah.” She looked at him. “So uhh, funny joke about you being Santa.”

Kris pretended to check his phone. “Yeah, uh, I was… Trying to impress you I guess, anyway.” He held up his phone. “I need your help. Do you have Sylvester’s phone number?” Kris didn’t have high hopes about Noelle having it, or Sylvester picking up, but he had to try.

“Uh, no.” She got up and grabbed some clothes. “I’m gonna go change.”  
“Right.” Kris was left alone in her room.

He had to find out who the Summer Child was, and he had to do it fast. He needed help.

Noelle came back in, now dressed. “Uh, Kris? Aren’t you in a hurry? You have sportsball practice, the big game is tomorrow.”  
“Ah jinkies.” Kris got up and grabbed his jacket.

“I was so proud of you for saying fuck.” Noelle shrugged. “Why did you need Sylvester’s number anyway.”

“Oh, uhh…” Kris had to think fast, but he decided that he needed Noelle’s help. “I’m looking for someone called the Summer Child, it’s really important. I thought it was Sylvester, but apparently it’s not and—”

“That’s Mary.” Noelle held up a hand. “She uh, she was adopted during the summer, so her parents used to call her the Summer Child. They called me Winter Child because my birthday is in December.”

“Oh? When?”  
“December 1st. Anyway, what do you need Mary for?” Noelle went to the door. “Also, do you want breakfast?”   
“No, uhh, I need her to save Christmas.” Kris grabbed his phone and texted Mary to meet him at the ice rink. “Do you wanna come?”

“Sure.” Noelle grabbed her jacket.

They met Mary at the ice rink. She looked at Noelle. “Why did you bring her?”  
“She’s helping me.” Kris suddenly remembered that the two girls had been fighting. He probably shouldn’t have brought Noelle. “Anyway, Mary, we need your help.”

“With what?” She crossed her arms and skated away a little bit. Noelle skated in circles around Kris and Mary while waiting for them to talk.

“Saving Christmas.” Kris knew he had to explain something. “So, there’s this woman, Minerva Meltheart, and she wants to like, melt my ice powers so that she can take over Christmas and the elves and everything, and I need the help of someone called the Summer Child to defeat her, and I thought it was Sylvester, but Minerva kidnapped him, so it isn’t him, but Noelle told me that your parents used to call you the Summer Child, so I need your help.”  
“Back up.” Noelle skated to a halt next to Mary, facing Kris. “ _Your_ ice powers? What do you mean?”

“Uhh…” Kris looked between them. “Mary, please. We don’t have much time.”  
She stared at him for a few moments, then shrugged. “Sure. Why not. Where are we going?”


	20. December 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> christmas is so near  
> and you so far away
> 
> uhhh short chapter because it bes like that

They don’t find Minerva on the 19th and so, they decide to call it quits at a reasonable hour. Kris  _ did  _ have that sportsball game the next day, they reminded him. It’s a little more important than saving Christmas or whatever, Noelle said. Kris raised an eyebrow at him, but she just smiled and hugged him goodnight.

So they all woke up. They all went to high school. They all lived through that day. The entire school was buzzing and it was nice. It helped mask Kris’ nervousness for the whole taking down Minerva thing. He’d just say he was excited for Christmas break or sportsball and people would accept it.

When it came to sportsball, people were nervous. They had  _ lost  _ their last game against South Heights so it wasn’t like their nervousness wasn’t rooted in something very real.

Of course they didn’t take Kris and his way too extensive knowledge and skill when it came to sportsball into consideration.  _ It’s not cheating, you’re just saving Christmas and bonding with the youth _ , he told himself.

When the match was over and they’d won, Noelle came over and met him in a jump-hug. She looked so happy and he didn’t want to let go of her.  _ It’s not cheating and it’s not bad, you’re just making Noelle happy _ , he told himself.

“We gotta find Mary,” He whispered to her before he let her down.

She sighed. “You’re sure you don’t just want to stick around and celebrate your victory for a bit? I mean, look at everyone. They’re happy. You made them happy.”

Instead of moving forward with saving Christmas or joining in on the celebrations, Kris just hugged Noelle again. She didn’t seem to mind, because she hugged him back. It was nice. Hugging Noelle was nice. Being around Noelle was nice. Seeing Mary shaking her head and smiling behind them? Well, that was a wakeup call.

Kris pulled away. “You can stay here and celebrate if you want. It’s probably safer that way. Mary and I have to go, I think.”

“Safety is overrated.” Noelle picked up her bag from the floor. “Let’s go fuck this shit up. I feel like we’re on a good winning streak. Let’s a-go!”

And with those wise words, Noelle Nite started marching out the gym. Mary and Kris shared a short look, then they nodded to each other and followed her.


	21. December 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> because you had to wait for a bus for an hour and a half  
> and like that fucking blows, man
> 
> consistent chapter length who?

As it turned out, finding the queen of ice, Minerva Meltheart herself, was not an easy task. Maybe they should have gone to celebrate a bit before they did this search thing. They had been searching for several hours when the first of them gave up.

“I’m out,” Noelle declared. “I’m out!” She sat down in the snow and sighed deeply. Then she looked at her phone. “It’s three in the morning and I’m tired and I just want to sleep. I’m going to go home and you two just… have fun saving Christmas or whatever it is you’re doing.”

Kris smiled to her. It was a kind of somber smile. He felt disappointed in the fact that they hadn’t made any progress, but he completely understood her want and need to go home. “Sure.” He helped her up and gave her a hug. Hugging her was still nice. “Thank you for helping out for so long. You’re the best.”

She smiled. “Thank you. Like, I already knew, but… thank you.” She kissed his cheek. 

Jinking Yuletide, she kissed his cheek! Kris looked down to mask the fact that he was blushing as she pulled away to go say goodbye to Mary, but Mary’s facial expression told him one thing: She  _ knew _ .

Noelle left with a peace sign, but didn’t get very far. “Uhh, guys. You might want to come with me in this direction.”

“What, why?” Mary asked, but followed her. “Oh. Kris! You’re gonna wanna come.”

And sure enough, the girls were right. In the direction Noelle had gone, it got colder. Much colder. That could only mean one thing: Minerva Meltheart was this way.

They started running through the snow, desperately trying to find out where she could be. It was Noelle who pointed out the slightly icy crack in the snow. It was also Noelle who insisted on crawling in first.

Inside was much colder. Inside was much more uncomfortable. But inside was also where Kris saw Sylvester huddled up in a small cage made of ice.

“We need to free him,” He whispered to the others.

Noelle sushed on him. Then she pointed further in.  _ Minerva _ . “We need to deal with her first!” Her whisper was barely audible, but Kris nodded. She was right.

Then he realized that he didn’t really have a plan for all this. And he started panicking, but only a little. He couldn’t handle another loss. This  _ had  _ to be a victory or he’d end up losing another friend to the queen of ice.

However, he didn’t have time to think before Noelle set something in action. She yelled. “Hey ugly!”

It certainly got Minerva’s attention. The queen turned around in a fast motion and a big but cold smile spread across her lips. “Well, well, well. Who do we have here? Another disposable brick in this wannabe Santa’s little game?”

Before he knew it, she was by Noelle. And before he could do anything, Noelle was thrown further into the cave, her body on the ground unmoving.

Then, Minerva turned her attention to Kris. “Hello, Kristofer.” Her voice rang in his ears and he felt cold. So cold. He tried to move, but a layer of ice had already formed around him. Jinkies!

“And you…” Minerva made her way towards Mary. She was almost floating. “That Sylvester child thought he was here to destroy me, melt me… you think you can do that? How pathetic.”

His view from the ground was limited, but he could see Mary raising her hand to do as he’d told her.  _ Touch Minerva’s chin and it’s all going to be over _ . He really hoped it was true.

Minerva laughed. Then she grabbed Mary’s hand right before it reached her chin. “You really think it’s that easy? That I’m just going to let you try stopping me? Cute. No one can stop me, not anymore. Not after  _ he  _ went and fucked up.”

“You sure you’re not the one who fucked up?” It was Noelle’s voice. It was coming from behind Minerva. And before Kris knew it, Noelle had tackled the queen of ice to the ground. “Quickly, Mary!”

And Mary was quick. She touched Minerva’s chin and… nothing. Nothing happened.

At least Kris thought nothing happened, but then he could hear sobbing coming from the pile of girls. And a little later, he could see how the previously icy blue dress faded into a much more warm red.

It was Mary who was sobbing, Kris realized. Then he realized Minerva was sobbing too. Noelle left the two of them alone and started trying to get Kris free instead. She whispers something to him about Minerva being Mary’s mother and while Kris knows there’s something about Mary’s mother going missing, it still sounds strange. It doesn’t matter, as the two seems to be hugging and the ice around him is melting and letting him go free.

Noelle is the one who kicked down the icy bars keeping Sylvester locked in. “Wake up, you loser!”

“Wh– what?” Sylvester slowly came to and Kris helped him up. “What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that you’ve been bullying me for several years and I still came to rescue you while you were in danger, so you owe me an apology.” Noelle smiled at him. “What's  _ also  _ going on is that you’re a nerd who writes to Santa to ask for Pokémon games.  _ Nerd _ .”

Sylvester looked at her for a while. “I’m… so sorry.” He seemed genuinely sorry in Kris’ opinion. Noelle, however, crossed her arms. “I’ve had a rough upbringing and I swear, I’m not a nerd. It’s just… my little bro, he really likes Pokémon. But we’re too poor to afford the games, so I’ll write to Santa each year and the games show up and I’ll give them to my bro and he gets, like, really happy. Which makes me really happy.”

“Sad backstory, man, but it doesn’t excuse you from being shitty.” Noelle raised an eyebrow to him, then extended her hand out to him. “Promise me you’ll stop being shitty?”

He looked at it for a second then shook it. “Promise.”

“Good.”

“Noelle, Sylvester…” Kris cut into their conversation. “It’s been a pleasure, but I think I gotta get back to the Northpole.” He shook Sylvester’s hand, but Sylvester hugged him. Noelle hugged him too.

The goodbye was bittersweet, but he needed to leave. He started drawing his teleportation circle in the snow. He got inside of it, waved goodbye and  _ poof _ .

Huh?

It didn’t work. It didn’t work and Kris was still standing in the circle facing Noelle and Sylvester. What the jinkies?


	22. December 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –   
> because we're twenty two days in and  
> i still don't know how to do a proper dedication
> 
> how does christmas work where y'all are from? i suffer from curious binch syndrome and lkjsdfsf

Kris was at a loss when it came to what to do. His ice powers weren’t working. Why weren’t they working?  _ Jinkies _ !

“Uhh… haha, the Northpole is what I call my apartment. I just like being dramatic. See you all later.” He nodded at Minerva, Mary, Sylvester and Noelle. Then he walked out of the cave, muttering all the bad words Noelle had taught him under his breath.

Someone followed him. “You’re not really Santa, are you?” It was Noelle.

He turned around to talk to her. “Noelle–”

“If you’re really Santa… tell me something only Santa would know. Tell me what I asked for for Christmas when I was seven years old.” Her demands were hard to meet, especially since he didn’t feel connected to his ice powers, like, at all.

“Noelle, I…” Good thing he’d checked the moment he met her. But he shouldn’t. “Can’t.” It was better to leave it like this.

Or maybe not. He saw tears forming in her eyes. “I knew it. I knew you weren’t Santa!”

Kris watched her run away. Maybe it wasn’t better like this? He didn’t like to see Noelle hurt. From his inner pocket, he fished out his special Santa hat and put it on. It felt good to be back in it. “A red tricycle!”

She stopped in her tracks. Then she turned around and he saw that the tears had been replaced by a smile. “Santa!” She clapped and then she ran. She ran straight into his arms and she kissed him and Kris kissed her back.

Later, he actually returned to his apartment. He didn’t know where else to go and luckily, it turned out to be the right call. Inside he sees one of his most trusted elves.

“Sprinkle!” He exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

Sprinkle didn’t look to be doing too good. “I’m bringing you back, boss. You gotta see what has happened at the Northpole.”

Confused and concerned, Kris let them take his hand and bring him back to the Northpole. He was glad to see that at least Sprinkle hadn’t lost all their powers as well. That meant it was fixable. Probably.

What didn’t look as fixable was Santa’s very own workshop. They landed outside of it and it took Kris some time to fully recognize it. There were no lights in it and no sounds came from it either. It was all highly unusual.

He looks to Sprinkle for guidance. “What has happened?”

“We don’t know, boss. It just shut down and then.. well, then we started shutting down. When Jingle and Jangle went out, I just… I knew I had to get to you.” Sprinkle was looking more and more tired for every second that passed and Kris  _ felt  _ more and more  _ desperate _ for each passing second too.

“Went out? What do you mean?”

Sprinkle started making their way towards the workshop. “Come and see for yourself, boss.”

What he saw was horrifying. All his elves, asleep on the floor. They looked cold, but they were still breathing. That was comforting. Kind of. At least it was better than it could have been.

He turned to face Sprinkle. “What am I supposed to–”

Sprinkle was on the floor now too. Sprinkle had fallen asleep.

“–do?”


	23. December 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> you’re perfect, you’re beautiful, everything about you is perfect  
> you’re a model, did you stone those tights? oh, you’re smiling!
> 
> oh wow i can't believe we're this close to the end wtf

The loneliest thing Santa had ever experienced was his workshop that late day in late December. He felt so small, stuck in his teenage body and surrounded by big machinery with no power.

What had gone wrong? How had he, in his effort to try saving Christmas, screwed it up this bad?

He started looking through Sprinkle’s notes in hopes there’d be something, _anything_ , that could help him on his mission to do better, but they had been right. The old texts were hard to understand, almost incomprehensible. He gave up pretty quickly.

At least some good things had happened, he noticed. He had lots of time to notice things because he was all alone and looking for answers. The machines that had previously produced coal seemed to have stopped. Sure, they’d stopped producing anything, but what was on them now was not coal. It was gifts. Actual presents for children. Actual things that could be sent out into the world on Christmas Eve, should he find a solution to all his problems. And he was going to. He was determined to. He would save Christmas and he would save his home.

He started looking through all the boxes of stuff they had stored away, but it didn’t seem to have answers. There were a few leftover speed stones, the kind he used to power up his sleigh, but handing out presents seemed so far away. Then there was the memory deletion stone that Jingle had offered to wipe him memory with earlier this December.

Maybe he should have taken her up on that. Maybe then Christmas would have been saved and none of this would have happened. Maybe he should just wipe his memory now and forget all the trouble he had caused.

No! He couldn’t do that. He needed to find a solution.

He just… didn’t have one right now. And he was so cold and so tired and so sad. He just needed a little break. He sat down on the ground and of course there were elves around him. It was much sadder to face them at this height.

Jingle and Jangle… he’d sat down next to Jingle and Jangle. Jangle looked so peaceful. He always did. Jingle looked like she wasn’t ready to go to sleep. He understood that. He also wasn’t ready.

Despite the dire circumstances, this had been a good December. Sure, it had been stressful and not all positive, but it had been good. He’d learned so much as a teenager and he’d loved so much of the experience. He would be sad if it all ended here.

It was probably his own fault. He shouldn’t have told Noelle he was Santa Claus. Jingle had told him, after all. He just hadn’t listened because he liked her and he wanted to impress her. Look where that got him.

Wait! It was _exactly_ like Jingle had told him.

If anyone found out _he_ was Santa – and they had – Father Winter’s spell would be broken. And it had. Maybe he could restore it. The memory deletion stone! Maybe he could bring order back to the Northpole and the world.

All it would cost him was… well, Noelle. It was a sad sacrifice to make, especially since she’d kissed him and he’d liked kissing her. He would like kissing her again. But he was Santa. And he had to save Christmas all over the world before he could even entertain the idea of saving the girl.

He grabbed the memory deletion stone, then the speed stones and then his sleigh. The reindeer were awake and thank _fuck_ for that.

He headed back to Northville.

He found Mary first. Her memory hurt the least deleting, ‘cause she had her mother and Minerva had promised him she’d take care of making sure Mary remembered what she was allowed to.

Then he found Sylvester. It was slightly harder, because it was getting late. It made sense that it took so long for him to open the door. Sylvester seemed confused that Kris was showing up at all. The whole deleting his memory part didn’t help that.

But going to Noelle’s house was the hardest of all. He didn’t bother knocking on the front door. Instead he knocked on her window. Luckily, she let him in.

“Santa, what are you doing here? Don’t you have some presents to load or some lists to check or… some other Santa stuff to do before the big day?” She asked.

He smiled sadly. “I do. I just… have something I need to clear up first.”

“Oh?”

“I’m sorry, Noelle. I have to delete your memory of me being Santa Claus. I have to save Christmas.” He didn’t want to say it, but he knew he had to. It was necessary for the safety of Christmas for all.

She nodded. “I understand. It’s been a pleasure knowing you as Santa, Mr. Kringle. I hope I can again eventually.”

He hoped so too. Then he found the magical stone that allowed him to hopefully reverse his mistakes and get Christmas back on track. If not, this would have been an awful waste of magic he himself wouldn’t be able to reverse.


	24. December 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> merry chrystler  
> happy krimias
> 
> i cannot believe it.... we're almost at the end???? happy christmas and stuff !

“What are you doing here, Kris?” Noelle asked, eyebrows raised.

Kris felt as a spark of ice ran through his veins. It was back! It worked! “Uhh…” As sad as it was to lie to Noelle, he was Santa Claus. He had ice in his veins for a reason and that reason was to help children all over the world feel the joy of Christmas. His own joy could wait. “You don’t remember? You just let me in.”

“What?”

“Yeah.” He put his hand behind his back and started conjuring something in his hand. “Yeah, you let me in. Because… I forgot to give you this!” He handed her a present.

“What’s this?”

“A Christmas present. From me. I forgot to give it to you and you’ve been so nice to me, so I really wanted to give it to you. I’ll leave now.”

She raised an eyebrow, but she accepted the present. “Alright, bye Kris. I’ll… see you after New Years?”

He nodded and said his final goodbyes. She probably wouldn’t, but that was fine. He told himself that it was fine. Then he went out in his sleigh and flew back home to the Northpole, trying his best not to think about Noelle.

The flight back to the Northpole feels long and lonely, but once he sees his workshop in the distance, he is filled with warmth and joy. There was light coming from it. And light was a good sign.

He parked his sleigh. Then he reverted back into the body he had previously had. It felt weird. Different. It didn’t feel like  _ him  _ anymore. So Santa decided to revert back into his younger body. His Kris body.

Why should an old man be the image of Christmas anyway? He didn’t get it. Christmas was for the kids, Kris had decided. They were far less stressed and if they weren’t, well dammit! They deserved to be. Kris would be a much better Santa Claus and bring a much better Christmas to all kids around the world if he just stayed a teenager forever.

He’d miss high school. He’d miss sportsball. Jinkies! He’d even miss homework. But making sure Christmas was the best it could possibly be… that was what it was all about.

Kris had ice in his veins for a reason. That reason wasn’t to conjure up a mirror, but he did it anyway. Yes. His teenage body did indeed look much more right. He dissummoned the mirror and then went into the workshop.

“Jingle! Jangle!” His two most trusted elves were there to greet him at the door and he was more than happy to see them. He gave each of them a hug. “How are you both doing?”

Jingle took a step forward. “Great, boss!”

“Thaaaaaaaat’s right!”

He laughed. It was good to see them up and about again.

“We do have some concerns, though. Would you mind coming with us, boss?” And he wouldn’t. He followed behind them as they lead him back up to his office. “It’s the lists, boss. The naughty list  _ and  _ the nice list. They’re gone!”

Kris scratched his beardless chin. “I suppose we’ll just have to continue as planned and do Christmas without them.” Sure, he was a bit confused about the lists suddenly not being here, but if he recalled correctly, they also hadn’t been there yesterday. Maybe they’d find them eventually, but for now they should just focus on getting the remaining present ready.

When it came time to fly out all the presents, Kris was happy to see that they had managed to finish everything on time. They’d been working under pressure, but all the elves had done such a wonderful job and, despite a few hiccups along the way, they’d all managed to come together. They’d saved Christmas.

Well. Hopefully they had. He still needed to hand out all the presents, but that was something he’d done before and he’d never screwed that up.

This year, however, he took a different route to what he’d done in the past. He put off the most painful part of the journey: The houses of his friends from Northville High School.

Not a lot of his high school friends had actually written letters. He assumed they’d grown out of it and he didn’t blame them. Still, there were a few who had wished for things and he happily visited them and gave them what their hearts desired.

Sylvester had wished for a Nintendo Switch and Kris assumed it was for his little brother, so he threw both Pokémon games in there as well. He also gifted Sylvester a new set of gym clothes as well as a brand new sportsball.

Mary had wished for her mother back. She had given that to herself, so Kris gave her a pair of new ice skates instead.

Noelle was the last stop and while she had not wished for anything, he stopped by her house anyway. He couldn’t not. He dropped off a photo album with photos he’d taken from his memory. He signed it Kris rather than Santa and hoped she’d be happy with it.

He lingered around on her roof for a second longer than he wanted. Leaving was hard, but he had to be off. He had to go home to the Northpole and celebrate with his elves.


	25. December 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to nanna –  
> obviously! because we study together  
> and no christmas story is complete without a lesson

He celebrated another successful Christmas with Jingle, he celebrated with Jangle, he celebrated with Sprinkle. Kris celebrated with all of the elves and he was prouder than ever to see this month soon coming to an end. He would go back to sleep soon, but before he had the chance to, a sudden rush of cold ran through the workshop.

This was a different from of cold than any cold Kris had ever felt before. It wasn’t chilly, per say, but it was warm, in a way. It felt like the first snow.

And before he knew it, a bunch of snow had crept it’s way into the building and was now forming the image of Father Winter himself. “Kris,” the whirling snow spoke. “Merry Christmas. Now that you’ve gone on your own little adventure, I wonder… did you ever figure it out?”

“Figure what out?” Kris tilted his head a bit to the side, but he straightened his back. This was his very first visit from Father Winter. He wanted to act…  _ right _ .

“What is so different with youth these days? What did you learn?”

“Well.” Kris took a moment to think back to what had happened this month and what he had learned. This was his busiest December ever, so there was a lot to re-remember. “I don’t think the youth is different, Father Winter. I just think we’ve set far too high standards for them and instead of lowering them, we keep increasing them. Kids keep trying their best to appease forces they don’t even know for sure are real or not. Kids are just… kids. And maybe we should let them be that.”

Father Winter nodded. “Did you know that every Santa Claus eventually breaks my spell?”

“What?”

“Yes. Every single Santa Claus has broken my spell and every single Santa has gotten a visit from me. This year you will not go to sleep. You will help plan a better Christmas for future generations.”

“One without a list of who’s been naughty and who’s been nice? A Christmas that doesn’t require kids to meet an endless number of requirements in order to have a good time?”

“Ho ho ho. That is all up to you, Kristofer Kringle. But you won’t have to do it all alone.”

“What do you mean?”

Father Winter swirled up more snow and opened a portal to a familiar place. “Come with me, Kris.”

And so Kris came with Father Winter and they both landed outside Noelle’s door. “Every Santa has a love and a Santa’s love is the purest of all. Now Noelle is still young and so are you, but I believe the two of you can make a better Christmas for all.”

Kris laughed a little. “That’s wonderful, but she doesn’t remember who I am. I wiped her memory with the memory deletion stone to get my powers back.”

“Well… why don’t you try knocking on the door?”

Father Winter disappeared and Kris was all alone outside Noelle’s door. It took him a while to go up to it, but before he succeeded it opened on it’s own and out came Noelle.

“Santa!” She exclaimed and ran towards him.

In the distance, Kris could see the slight swirl of some snow. Above him he could see a mistletoe and in his arms, he could see Noelle. She kissed him and he kissed her and it was the merriest Christmas of all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading and for coming along on this dumb journey. i cannot believe this is my longest work so far, but fjsksf. that’s what christmas is about, posting long works. merry krismas!
> 
> also uhhh this is a note that im adding like 12 after after posting this chapter, but i just wanted to say wow! what a journey! this has been a true blast to write and im so happy i did it. i'm a december child who's always kind of had it out for christmas and this has been one of the best decembers in my life. i've really enjoyed writing this and i think it's taught me to appreciate christmas even more. maybe there really is something special about "children" ""movies"" abt christmas, huh


End file.
